Welcome

I have been modelling mostly in O9/On18 for the past few years. Recently I decided I wanted a model of a small Bagnall Sipat class 040st. I have scratchbuilt a few models before, but given the lack of suitable chimneys, the high price of cast fittings and the difficulty of adapting either 4mm detail parts from larger locos or 7mm scale parts from small NG locos left me wondering if it might be an ideal subject for 3D printing. I had access to an old copy of Rhino3D through my wife's university, so started from there. I'm very pleased with the results, having taught myself how to 3D model in CAD without any tutorials in about 6 weeks. Several asked if I'd be making the model available, and in various different scales, so almost by accident we've ended up here. I hope to make more models of some of the more unusual sub-2ft prototypes, but my choice of loco is primarily based upon me wanting one for my own use!

I hope that I may have helped fellow O9 modellers a little, and that they will appreciate having a model of a loco manufacturer's standard 18" design available to fit a reliable chassis. There seem to be lots of small diesels available in O9 but at the time of writing the only steam locos were the Beyer, Peacock/Horwich works locos made by springside (hopefully n-drive's Heywood locos will be out soon, they look fantastic) which are fairly specific in terms of prototype locations.

As well as the products on this website, O9/On18 modellers would be well advised to look at the following other websites and manufacturers (I've bought from all of them!):

N-Drive 9mm gauge chassis and some O9 Heywood locos in the near future

Also worth a mention if you can find them secondhand are the fantastic kits of FCALV models, now sadly no longer available, and a couple of blogs/personal websites which were some of the inspiration behind my decision to model O9 (apart from early memories of Ravenglass and seeing an article on a layout called The River in the Railway Modeller many years ago):

Lastly a couple of forums which will be handy to the O9 modeller: NGRM for all narrow gauge modelling and the Gnatterbox for mostly 1:24 or bigger modelling but lots of 15" and 18" prototype information.

Thanks are also due to Mick Thornton, whose blog features photo reports of narrow gauge layouts around the country, and who kindly allowed me to use his photo on this site, Tim Tincknell, who allowed Sipat a little run out at ExpoNG on his excellent layout, Bob Barlow, for encouraging me to write an article about Sipat for NG&IRM, which appeared in Issue 93, and Roy Link, for taking some fantastic photos to go with the article.

I hope there are no significant omissions from those lists! Now head on over to shapeways and buy another Bagnall Sipat

Frequently asked questions

Which loco is the easiest to finish/would you recommend?

None of the locos are difficult to finish, and I've tried to provide detailed photos of construction and finishing them on their respective pages. The easiest design to finish is Leo70, as there aren't really any chassis modifications needed or handrails, and the pipework is fairly minimal and more easily accessible (ie. not in the cab beneath fiddly bits).

Where can I get a Fleischmann 7000 040T chassis? (or how on earth have you got so many of them?)

I tend to buy most of mine from eBay.de - in germany they ae the basic first n gauge trainset loco and have been since the late 1970s, so they're more plentiful and much cheaper there. Make sure the seller takes paypal (international bank transfers are expensive and not so easy) and will post to wherever you live. Most sellers will reply nicely to emails, and theres plenty more fleischmann chassis out there if you can't get them at the right price. I aim to pay about £20 (in britain they seem to sell for £35-40). If you can, get one with the metal chassis - these have a black chassis block and gears, and tend to have the thinner crosshead you need for Sipat. Although there are at least 4 different versions of the chassis, all parts are completely interchangeable, and the design is very robust and easily repairable. Some of mine are pre 1984 and work perfectly.

Why 3D printing? why not be a proper modeller?

3D printing allows me to produce locos which would never be commercially viable by any other means. I taught myself CAD, and enjoy it. I have been asked if I'd build another of my scratchbuilt locos for someone, and it'd take a lot of time and effort for me, which I don't necessarily have, but if I've drawn up the CAD then people can buy a whole fleet of them. I would strongly argue that anyone who can finish a 3D printed loco from its raw state is a proper modeller - it's essentially a kit, but with everything assembled squarely and without ugly blobs of glue! The trick is in using simple techniques to remove the imperfections in the surface left by the printing process. All of my models are designed using scale drawings and are as accurate as I can make them, and I'd argue that my models have proven enough times that the technology is there to produce models to rival any other production method - I have even produced several chassis using the printing process.

Important Notice!

If you order one of my locos from Shapeways and they refund your order and tell you the model is unprintable, please contact me and let me know. It is the most frustrating thing about using Shapeways - I have had two of my models uploaded and happily being sold for a few months, then suddenly a customer orders one and it is rejected as unprintable. This is extremely annoying, it happened with Leo70 after 5 had been sold (I emailled them with a photo of mine to point out that it was printable, and they'd printed 5, but to no avail) and again several months later with Sipat (after over 20 had been sold over the previous 6 months). So far as I can get them to admit, what this means is that either someone different is doing the manual pre printing checks, or their checking software has been upgraded, and all of a sudden models which they've happily printed for 6 months get rejected as unprintable. Of course as the customer, you don't get an explanation of why, nor do they explain that they've printed plenty of them before (the week previously in the case of Sipat) and that the CAD file is fine, just that they've shifted the goalposts without warning. As the designer, I simply get an email telling me that an order has been cancelled due to a model not being printable, but they won't tell me who the customer was. Once I get told, I will tweak things until it passes their new checks and update the file on Shapeways, but then I can't let the potential customer know that it has been sorted. If you do find yourself ordering one of my designs and it gets rejected as unprintable, please use the form below to let me know and I'll keep you up to date with progress so you know when it is available again. As I said, it is extremely frustrating to both me as the designer and the customer, but there isn't much I can do about it. Despite the annoyances, I still haven't found a 3D printing service that simplifies the marketing and production of models the way Shapeways does. Their print quality is generally good, and as a customer they have been quick to respond to complaints and questions, and when I have had the odd model with poor print quality they have refunded without any quibbles. Overall I'm happy with them and happy to recommend them, but this issue with them moving their goalposts without warning and claiming things are unprintable is a disappointment.